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Marussia will miss this week's Formula One test at Barcelona after its new Formula One car failed the last of its FIA crash tests. New rules for 2012 mean that teams cannot test until their car passes all of the tests. Previously, they needed only to complete the tests before the first race.

The situation means that the former Virgin team might end up going to Australia for the season-opening race next month without running the car unless it can fit in a shakedown somewhere—assuming that the team passes the test in time to be able to compete in Melbourne on March 18.

The news comes as a big blow to rookie driver Charles Pic, who needs to log all of the mileage he can get. Marussia missed the year's first test at Spain's Jerez circuit and then cut short last week's Barcelona test after a suspension problem with its old car.

“The Marussia F1 team is disappointed to confirm that the planned first test of its 2012 race car, the MR01, has been delayed as a consequence of not passing the final FIA crash test,” the team said in a statement.

“All cars are required to pass 18 FIA-observed tests for homologation to be granted. Despite the fact that the MR01 has passed all 17 of the preceding tests, the regulations require the car to have completed all of the tests before running commences.

“The team will now not take part in the final preseason test in Barcelona later this week [March 1-4] and will instead focus its efforts on repeating the crash test at the end of the week.”